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Year: 2022

How can leaders keep a strong company culture alive in a hybrid working world?

It is influential to expand into a large, premium workplace with luxury furnishings. But failing to build a strong culture is one aspect that might cause the development curve to slant downward.

Coming to the fact that building a strong company culture was never easy, even the biggest of companies have succumbed to have one.

A firm’s culture consists of shared beliefs, qualities, and characters unique to that organization. Culture is what determines a company’s ability to maintain true to its values and goals despite changes.

Since culture is a team-based approach that incorporates employee engagement at all levels, it was previously considered more straightforward under the traditional working style, as interacting with employees was not a problem.

The introduction of working methods that employees are unfamiliar with or that new graduates are unaware of has made it difficult for leaders to explain the firm’s principles. To be honest, the new working culture is distinct and more sophisticated than the work culture of a typical company. So, instead of providing a nice work environment to encourage employees to become more productive, the paradigm has switched to providing remote working equipment and tools.

Since organizations are returning to office space as the world begins to toil and return to normal, the notion of a hybrid working model in which some workers return to work while others work from home is greatly being adopted by firms and appreciated by employees as it better suits them when it comes flexible ways of working.

Hybrid Working Model:

Initial remote   |    Periodic office   |   Initial office, periodic remote

Culture has long been believed to be an important aspect in a company’s performance; organizations with a positive culture are considered to have higher revenue growth, retention, and are more successful. However, since the pandemic, culture has taken a blow, and leadership all around the world are concentrating on it and their concerns about it.

How to sustain company culture:

1) Empower employees:

When employees feel a sense of attachment and belonging, businesses prosper. Leaders may play a more effective role by allowing employees to choose a work mode that suits them best and they believe would be more productive.

2) Shared belief:

When it comes to achieving objectives, employees have a shared belief; purpose/aim is what guides employees’ joint efforts in the particular directions. It goes without saying that employees’ physical presence stimulates others; forming a circle leads to clarifying doubts, discussing strategies, a quick meeting between teams, and more. Since the advent of remote employment, the sharing of common goals has declined significantly. The leader can play their best roles, spending time communicating the broad picture or the ultimate goal and aligning individual employees’ efforts to attain the same.

3) Individual accountability:

Accountability is stated to keep the workforce alive; it will be correct to say that accountability of employees has been reduced as employees are not physically available. Communication gaps, hesitations among employees, and other factors have added challenges in the working model.

To address this, management should remind employees of their efforts, accountability, and individual contributions to its success, since this is an essential aspect of fostering a positive culture. A structured hybrid culture must ensure successful individual performance for the benefit of the team and the business.

4) Take this moment and embrace:

Let’s accept that, as a result of changes in the way organizations operate, we now have the chance to uncover our inner entrepreneur, artist, and other talent that we have wished to pursue since childhood but never had the chance.

Leaders should encourage innovation in the workplace and make changes that will benefit the company’s overall success. Employees now have the ability to think outside the box and direct their efforts precisely so that firms can make the greatest use of their expertise, thanks to the possibilities of the hybrid working model.

Founding Engineer! Sounds cool, right?

Being referred to as an early engineering hire has long been fashionable. Working as a founding engineer for a startup can be one of the most exciting, challenging, and gratifying experiences a person can have.

However, engineers contemplating what to do next can be intimidated by the mystery and mystique around it, especially those coming from more organized workplaces.

What comes to mind now is what’s going on with the structured environment. Why are leaders who have been groomed in an unstructured setting supposed to be adaptive to any global situation?

A Psychologist Madeline Levine states, It is the unstructured play that provides the greatest opportunities for kids to be curious, creative, spontaneous, and collaborative.

Give employees opportunities to spend unstructured work time together. Such moments can reduce social isolation and increase spontaneous collaboration and creativity – Harvard Business Review

Founding Engineers have a unique blend of skills to work amid ambiguity, a high-risk appetite, and a desire to get things done quickly.

Clearly, this function necessitates a unique type of person. A founder engineer must be highly technically proficient while also being adaptable enough to flourish in these various fields. While founding engineers might come from a range of backgrounds, a few key characteristics can be common to all.

✅ Learning/experience:

We all know that a degree can only teach you a fraction of what you need to know to be a competent engineer and that being a founding engineer is not something that can be discovered in the best of books, nor a lot of people around have experienced this unknown and arcane path.  You learn the hard way through the problems you encounter along the route and the multiple frameworks you create to track your progress.

A founding engineer should have at least 2-4 years of experience (in many cases, more like 5-10 years)

✅ The yearn to be in charge:

It has always been there, the Inquisitive nature that makes you learn and discover the unknowns.

Naval Ravikant: “if you aren’t curious about it, you’ll never be good at it.”

A sound founding engineer yearns for control. Perhaps you’ll organize the workplace, oversee the new recruit on the boarding program, and more!

If you frequently raise your hand to own anything from beginning to end, you will likely appreciate the ownership that comes with being a founding engineer.

✅ Ambiguity:

Things happen quickly in the startup world; hours become days, days become months, and the entire tale of success hinges on how quickly you expand, which is fraught with ‘uncertainty.’

You’ll need to be comfortable working with a lot of ambiguity as a founding engineer. For whatever you’re supposed to, you may not obtain the requirements. The right founding engineer knows when to ask for clarity and when to make educated assumptions.

✅ Diversity:

It’s a prerequisite for being a founding engineer! What distinguishes the spectacular from the ordinary is the wearing of several caps. A typical day might consist of several hours of development, client interactions, a technical brainstorm or architecture discussion, and a few interviews.

To be honest, as a Founding Engineer, when it comes to Knowledge, you must be a jack of all trades, and when it comes to application, you must be the king of all trades.

Thus, there is constantly more to do than can possibly be done. This is a challenge that a great founding engineer should embrace and thrive in.

You’ve probably heard the saying, “The rich get richer, while the poor get poorer.” The reason for even addressing this topic is that companies with the correct set of talent are being seen touching the sky, while others are scrambling to keep up with their own obligations. Employees have long been stated to constitute a company’s fundamental strength. While this is true, though our experience has taught us that not the employees are the core strength, but the right employees are the core strength.

Now, when it comes to Startups, it has always been assumed that the ball is always in the court of those who are investor-ready, but is money the only factor that propels a startup into the stratosphere? Talking facts, as per a study conducted by www.failory.com, 90% of Startups succumb to survive for even 10 Years, and the biggest reasons cited for this is:

  • No Market for the Product/Service – 42%
  • Run Out of Cash – 29%
  • Not the Right Team – 23%

Not having the right team is quoted as the 3rd most significant factor when it comes to the failure of business. Especially now, when the tech hiring spree is in full swing and acceptance of technology is growing in every industry, competition for the best talent is heating up, and more and more businesses are looking for better, more efficient ways to acquire talent without having to build an internal army of recruiters. Here comes the concept of Recruitment Process Outsourcing (RPO), whose acceptance can be attributed to the fact that giants like Tesla, IBM, Barclays, to name a few, have already adopted it for years.

Now that we all know, the majority of businesses must make the “insource vs. outsource” option in a variety of areas.

Should I enter a new market segment or buy a new business?

Should I purchase a new place or develop my own? Should I increase market share by expanding my workforce or acquiring a competitor?

Talent acquisition decisions are no different.

The debate these days is whether to outsource or insource recruitment. Should you expand your internal recruiting team? Should you form a partnership?

When it comes to outsourcing hiring activities, there are often a number of advantages, including flexibility, proactive personnel management, and cost management, to mention a few.

A good recruiting process outsourcing provider can come up with a slew of benefits, including the following:

Flexible recruitment solution: Since the pandemic outbreak, businesses have become more proactive in their search for a future course of action. As a result, flexible RPO is a good alternative for companies with long-term goals. Businesses have always required scaling up and down their hiring efforts to meet demand or achieve targets, even before the pandemic. A flexible RPO solution can help you respond swiftly to hiring spikes or scale back if your budget gets tight.

Access to expert knowledge: An RPO partner offers an additional experience to the table, allowing the team to improve internal procedures while remaining accountable.

Employer branding: RPO providers are experts in creating solutions that include comprehensive employer branding strategies. These improve the candidate experience and increase hiring manager satisfaction while attracting passive candidates and retaining staff.

RPOs do all possible to expedite and optimize your hiring process, bringing in the most qualified candidates who are most likely to succeed in a given role.

CareerXperts Consulting Talent Solutions supports businesses with world-class talent acquisition support when and where needed. Our adaptable solutions integrate cutting-edge technology and procedures into your business, so you don’t have to lose efficiency to expand your capabilities.

Interested in learning more about the benefits of an RPO partnership? Write to us at rpo@careerxperts.com to discuss.

 

Exit interview banner

For many people, the term “exit interview” conjures up images of annoyance. To begin, exit interviews are held with employees leaving the organization; these conversations typically concentrate around their experiences, the reason for a job shift, and so on. Exit interviews are common, especially after the pandemic and  great resignation; firms are more concerned about the workforce. Exit interviews assist businesses in gathering information from departing employees, who are often upfront about their experiences at work. When employees depart, there are a thousand questions that come to mind. Should I be honest about what I’ve been through -why should I care? In any case, I’m leaving! Will it be better if I keep my mouth shut and conclude things on a positive note? These are all very common.

An exit interview’s statistics can provide a company with a unique insight into its success and employee satisfaction. For this to happen, people leaving the company must be truthful, but what if this causes a rift?

The theory says, stay honest, not bitter and let the place you’re leaving develop. Still, in reality, when employees leave because of a terrible experience, they don’t think about keeping a bridge between them and the company.

However, an exit interview is not a time to rant about your previous experiences; all of this should have been discussed before making a final decision.

Maybe if you’d brought them up earlier, your manager would have agreed to your demands with maybe a wage raise and added benefits. So, before you decide to leave, have such deep conversations.

The purpose of exit interviews:

  • To identify areas for improvement
  • To ensure that employees leave satisfied with their services.
  • To inspire, demonstrate that you care.

How to end it:

  • It’s ok to get frustrated; instead of losing your cool, try to find a better method to communicate yourself. If not, be sarcastic; it’s just not about the cause; there are relations, reputation, experiences involved.
  • Be diplomatic in your responses- (It’s not you- It’s me) the honest and straightforward reason you’re going is that you believe you’re competent—you can easily find a job or already have one, and all you’re looking for is a chance to advance.
  • Try to be deserving and accountable—don’t leave a mess behind, and make sure the incumbent feels the same.

 

Finally, be grateful for the opportunity – at the very least, you learned something. Keep in mind that the industry you serve is limited, and it’s never worth to burn bridges.

Title: Measure What Matters (OKRs: The Simple Idea that Drives 10x Growth)

Author: John Doerr

Theme: Non-Fiction

Publisher: Portfolio Penguin

Published: 26th April 2018

Pages:  320

Author Overview:

John Doerr is a world-renowned venture capitalist who has backed some of the world’s most successful entrepreneurs & businesses and has spent the last two decades investing in green companies tackling climate change. John Doerr is a member of the Google, Zynga, and Amyris boards of directors. He was a member of US President Barack Obama’s Council on Jobs and Competitiveness and a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences.

 

 

We’ve all been in a position when our desire to accomplish something is high, but it eventually fades owing to a variety of factors. “Measure What Matters” is an excellent book for people who have a strong desire to achieve goals that they believe are out of reach.

You’ve certainly heard a lot about companies failing to capitalize on their finest possibilities because they don’t have a framework in place to manage focus, alignment, and responsibility. “Measure What Matters” outlines how “OKRs” (Objectives and Key Results) might aid in the success of businesses.

The book ‘Measure What Matters’ is interpreted in two ways. The first section of the book illustrates the notion through a variety of success stories ranging from Google to various enterprises, while the second section emphasizes the necessity of change and explains how philosophy needs to adjust to accommodate the new way of thinking.

The Author explains the four Superpowers on which the OKRs model is built upon,

  • The first is to concentrate on a small number of initiatives that can have a significant impact while avoiding the less important ones; this allows executives to commit to those decisions and results in a successful organization.
  • The second is the ability to align and connect. OKRs require that not just goals be freely stated but that they also align with the company’s overall game plan’s objectives.
  • The third superpower of OKRs is that they can be tracked; they are data-driven, with regular check-ins, objective grading, and constant reassessment.
  • The final OKR superpower is the system’s ability to inspire people to achieve greater heights than they previously believed feasible. Setting conservative goals stifles innovation, but setting ambitious ‘stretch’ goals pushes people to venture beyond their comfort zones.

The book demonstrates how the method can be used by teams of any size, how startups must work together, scaling firms must have a common language for execution, and larger organizations must improve alignment. OKRs can aid in each scenario.

The book’s insights mention how, In 1999, John Doerr invested millions in a small startup with incredible technology, entrepreneurial spirit, and sky-high expectations, but no actual business plan. Seeking which John Doerr introduced the founders to his methodology of Objectives and Key Results (OKRs), and the startup expanded at an exponential rate with those concepts at the heart of their management and is known for being one of the best places to work (Google)

Few chapters in the book are written by industry leaders, telling the story of how OKRs helped them to reach their companies’ objectives.

‘Measure What Matters’ is a book on facts and case studies, and for the first time, John Doerr provided a wide range of first-person, behind-the-scenes case studies with narrators such as Bono and Bill Gates. Doerr’s introduction of OKRs to tech titans and charities that exceed all expectations are mentioned in the book.

It is a must-read book since it will assist you in rethinking and innovating your company’s strategy and culture. The book advocates for an open and transparent culture that fosters employee involvement and innovation.

 

Reviews:

Jim Collins: ‘Measure What Matters deserves to be fully embraced by every person responsible for performance in any walk of life.’

Sheryl Sandberg: Measure What Matters shows how any organization or team can aim high, move fast, and excel.’

Gordon Moore: ‘Measure What Matters takes you behind the scenes for the creation of Intel’s powerful OKR system.’

Larry Page: I wish we had this book 19 years ago when we founded Google.

Diane Greene: Measure What Matters is an essential handbook for both small and large organizations; the methods described will definitely drive great execution

Reid Hoffman: Whether you’re a seasoned CEO or a first-time entrepreneur, you’ll find valuable lessons, tools, and inspiration in the pages of Measure What Matters. I’m glad John invested the time to share these ideas with the world

Mellody Hobson: Measure What Matters will transform your approach to setting goals for yourself and your organization.

 

Title: Work Rules: Insights from Inside Google That Will Transform How You Live and Lead

Author: Laszlo Bock

Theme: Non-fiction

Publisher: Grand Central Publishing

 Published: 7th April 2015

 Pages:  416

Author Overview:

Laszlo Bock is a Romanian-born American businessman who is co-founder and CEO of Humu. He was formerly the Senior Vice President of People Operations at Google, Inc. Laszlo Bock led Google’s people function, responsible for attracting, developing, retaining, and delighting “Googlers.” Bock’s earlier Experience spans executive roles at the General Electric Company, management consulting at McKinsey & Company, start-ups, non-profits, and acting.

During Bock’s tenure, Google was named the Best Company to Work for more than thirty times around the world and received more than 100 awards as an employer of choice. In 2010, he was named Human Resources Executive of the Year by Human Resources Executive magazine.

Quote: ‘People can exist, without companies, but companies can’t exist without people.’

“We spend more time working than doing anything else in life. It’s not right that the Experience of work should be so demotivating and dehumanizing.” So says Laszlo Bock, former head of People Operations at the company that transformed how the world interacts with knowledge.

Work Rules outlines what drives Google’s incredible success and why they do what they do. The author provides an insider’s view of what makes Google tick, as well as how you and your firm might replicate some of their effective strategies.

Mentions:

  • Google’s operating assumption is “Anything we are doing; we can do better.”
  • The most talented and creative people cannot be forced to work.
  • Google’s greatest constraint on growth has always been their ability to find great people. People that can solve today’s problems and unknown problems in the future.

The book discusses how Google has created such a vibrant culture, attracted top worldwide talent, and achieved exceptional results.

The book includes research insights, behavioral economics, and a thorough understanding of human psychology, as well as a slew of examples from a variety of industries, including well-known companies that also happen to be dreadful places to work, as well as lesser-known businesses that achieve spectacular results by valuing and listening to their employees.

Work Is Everything! Shows how to achieve a healthy balance between creativity and structure, resulting in success that can be measured both in terms of quality of life and market share. Read it to learn how to develop a stronger company from within rather than from the above and rediscover your passion for what you do.

The book is jam-packed with anecdotes and examples that will help us better grasp Google’s beliefs and why it does what it does.

 

Reviews:

Kirkus Reviews: “An intriguing profile of an innovative company that continues to shake up the world.”

Library Journal: “Good guidance from the head of Google’s innovative People Operations, who wants to show companies how to attract and keep the best managers. Love the read-it-two-ways title.”

Publishers Weekly: “Anecdotes about Google’s founding and history mingle with discussions of management theory, psychology, and behavioral economics to create a fascinating and accessible read.”

Ram Charan: “WORK RULES! is an exceptional book aimed at any manager who wants great ideas for encouraging success from their team an instant classic for the management shelf.”

Indra K. Nooyi: “With a clear-eyed, data-driven look into today’s workplace, Bock reveals the non-traditional practices that can fundamentally transform businesses of all kinds.”

Title: The Code Breaker: Jennifer Doudna, Gene Editing, and the Future of the Human Race

Author: Walter Isaacson

Theme: Non-Fiction

Publisher: Simon & Schuster

Published: 9th March 2021

Pages:  560

Author Overview:

Walter Isaacson is a businessman and journalist from the United States. He was named Chairman and Chief Executive Officer of CNN in 2001. Isaacson is best known for his magisterial biographies in literary circles, which are erudite and meticulously researched while also being highly entertaining.

He has also served as the editor-in-chief of Time Magazine. Isaacson is known for his written biographies of Benjamin Franklin, Albert Einstein, Steve Jobs, and Henry Kissinger.

 

The Code Breaker breathlessly follows Jennifer Doudna from a childhood spent trekking through the wilds of Hawaii to her pioneering work harnessing a bacterial defense system to rewrite the code of life and the bitter patent battle that ensued and ultimately winning the ultimate credit, the Nobel Prize.

Jennifer Doudna, who grew up being, told that women can’t involve themselves with science, would become one of America’s greatest thinkers and kindest genetic researchers.

It all began when Doudna, then in sixth grade, discovered a book her father had left  titled “The Double Helix, by James Watson,” and as she flipped through the pages, she got intrigued by the dramatic drama surrounding the competition to discover the code of life.

The book describes how Doudna and her collaborators, driven by passion, transformed a natural curiosity into an invention that changed the human race: an easy-to-use tool that can edit DNA. Isaacson uncovers and demystifies the stigma around high-level thinking and biologic research in “The Code Breaker.”

In a very elegant approach, the book covers the parallel storylines evolving beside one another: the life and work of Jennifer Doudna and the emergence and popularity gained by CRISPR. The author brings to the light the other unknown scientists and shed light on them, making it clear that no scientific discovery is made by a single scientist.

The book talks about how the world needs to make more room for women and others to enter scientific fields of study; also, greater diversity leads to amazing outcomes.

THE “Code Breakers” is an examination of how life as we know it is about to change and a brilliant portrayal of the woman leading the way. This book will shed light on the term why scientists are known as true heroes.

 

Reviews:

Oprah Magazine.com: “Isaacson’s vivid account is a page-turning detective story and an indelible portrait of a revolutionary thinker who, as an adolescent in Hawai’i, was told that girls don’t do science. Nevertheless, she persisted.”

The Washington Post: “Isaacson lays everything out with his usual lucid prose; it’s brisk and compelling and even funny throughout. You’ll walk away with a deeper understanding of both the science itself and how science gets done — including plenty of mischief.”

The Guardian: “This story was always guaranteed to be a page-turner in [Isaacson’s] hands.”

The New York Times: “The Code Breaker is in some respects a journal of our 2020 plague year.”

New York Journal of Books: “A riveting expedition through biochemistry, structural biology, and academic politics that transcends the traditional scientific detective story and captures the raw, magical enthusiasm of living pioneers like Doudna and her colleagues.”

Title: I came upon a Lighthouse – Shantanu Naidu: A Short Memoir of Life With Ratan Tata.

Author: Shantanu Naidu

Theme: Non-Fiction

Publisher: HarperCollins India

Published: 11th January 2021

Pages:  232

Author overview:

From composing music videos for social causes during his engineering days, Shantanu Naidu established him in animal welfare. He founded Motopaws, a start-up to place reflective collars on India’s stray dogs to prevent nighttime traffic accidents while working as an automobile design engineer at Tata Elxsi. Mr. Ratan Tata joined the venture as a major investor.

Do you believe in fairy tales? Do you believe in lifelong friendships?

Do you think friendship is a meeting of minds, even if they are radically opposed? ‘I came upon a lighthouse’ is a story shared by a millennial and an octogenarian (Ratan Tata).

Aside from economic milestones, the book illuminates Ratan Tata’s personal life, revealing hidden facets of his nature.

Ratan Tata (renowned for his concern for stray dogs) invested in the venture because of his passion for dogs and protecting local stray canines from being struck by rushing vehicles.

The book also discusses Ratan Tata’s similarities in how he handles everyone, regardless of whether they are acquaintances, friends, or even bosses.

I Came Upon a Lighthouse is both a frank and compassionate picture of a beloved Indian legend.

 

Ratan Tata’s Note in the book: “A shared concern for the welfare of the homeless, hungry, ill-treated and abandoned dogs and cats brought Shantanu and me together. He and his young friends had been bootstrapping a small start-up in Pune to feed, care for and find homes for these poor animals,”

The book is an illustrated memoir of Naidu’s candid interaction with Ratan Tata. People are known to have great respect for Ratan Tata, and ‘I came upon a lighthouse’ shows why!

 

Reviews:

The Week: Shantanu has given the world a real treat—by showing readers the most endearing side of a man who is seen as a superhero by millions.

Hindustan Times: Getting candid with Mr. Tata: A book by a millennial that sheds the tycoon’s serious tag.

The Economic Times: The Ratan behind the Tata Vault

Bachi Karkaria: A unique, transcultural, age obliterating friendship between a millennial and a multinational business icon.’

Pritish Nandy: ‘A millennial’s tribute to his octogenarian friend with whom he shares a love for homeless dogs,…a very charming book.’

Freddy Birdy: ‘A riveting, easy and effortless and very gentle and lovely read, a close up of views of one of India’s most revered public figures living today.’

The Tribune: ‘The book can serve as a guide to those who want to know the lesser-known facts about the doyen of Indian industry. One gets to know a side of Tata that’s goofy and witty.’

 

Writing good emails appears to be easier said than done. It has been observed that people commonly make missteps while writing to apply for a job, normally by asking a lot.  Your email acts as a translator, explaining why you’re a good fit for the job; here’s how to start-off:

 

1. Be direct in your subject line:

Being precise in your message boosts your chances of receiving a response. A good subject line gives your readers a reason to open your email.

Tip: view your recent subject line performance, or use an A/B test to see if different subject lines affect your open rates. Learning about company culture or asking for introductions to the hiring team are great reasons to reach out to a recruiter.

 

2. Make decision-making easy:

Keep in mind that the purpose of the initial email is to acquire a yes to the introduction and a minor request, not a job offer. Start with simple inquiries because there are likely to be few emails shared. And yes, the standard salutation is no longer effective, therefore make every effort to tailor your email to a recruiter. Perform preliminary research on the recruiter’s name, role, and other relevant information.

 

3. Keep it brief:

Recruiters want to communicate with candidates in a transparent manner. Because it’s probable that your recipient may read your email on a mobile device, keeping it short is always a good idea. To be exact, your application should state the aim of your outreach, avoid a long series of questions, and include a ‘call to action’ that prompts a response at the end.

For instance, please let me know when you are available; I’d want to set a time to chat, etc.

 

4. The tone-be respectful:

Understand the purpose of your email: you’re applying for a job. As a result, the tone you employ must be courteous, as the tone you use will determine the recruiter’s view of you and can make or break your job offer. Begin small and always give the recruiter the last say. Being polished and professional can help you build a more positive relationship with a recruiter.

 

5. Time it right & wait for a reply:

Because a recruiter may receive a thousand emails for a single vacancy, make sure your communication is well-timed. Assuming that the person begins the day by checking emails, make sure yours is among the first to be read. The optimum times to send an email are between 8:00 and 10:00 a.m. or 3:00 and 4:00 p.m.

It’s normal to feel compelled to receive an answer immediately wait for the employer to respond before sending follow-ups. Work on developing rapport before requesting them to spare time to view your application.

 

Summary: A potential recruiter receives a large number of emails each day; find a way to stand out by being precise, respectful, and being clear about your goal.